Beyond the Policy Cycle
The policy process in Australia
Edited by H.K. Colebatch
It is common - and comforting - to see public policy as the result
of careful craft work by expert officials. They recognise a problem,
identify and evaluate possible responses, and choose the most
appropriate strategy - this is the ‘policy cycle’. The reality is more
complex and challenging. Many hands are involved in policy-making,
not all of them official; they are not all addressing the same problem,
they have different ideas about what would be a good answer, and
the process is rarely brought to a neat close by a clear decision. The
development of policy can resemble firefighting, with players rushing
to react to demands for action in areas that are already in crisis, or
it can be a less frenetic process of weaving, as they search for an
outcome which reflects the concerns of all the stakeholders. Effective
participation in the policy process calls for a clear understanding of
this complexity and ambiguity.
Beyond the Policy Cycle sets policy in this wider context. It
recognises that participants in the process are drawn from both
government and diverse areas outside government, and looks not at
a ‘model’ process but rather at how the game is played: how issues
rise to prominence, who is actually doing the work, and exactly what
it is that they are doing.
With detailed Australian case studies, and examining the implications of recent trends in policy such as the outsourcing of service
provision, Beyond the Policy Cycle offers students and practitioners
a critical and engaged look at the activity of policy that reflects the
reality of the policy experience.
1741148731 A$39.95 PB 336pp Jul 2006
‘There is a need for an empirically grounded
but theoretically informed examination of
the work of policy in Australia.’
H.K. Colebatch
Hal K.Colebatch has taught and researched public policy and administration in Australia, Papua New
Guinea, East Africa and Southeast Asia, and is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Clinical
Management Development, University of Durham and a member of the School of Social Science and Policy at
the University of New South Wales. He is Vice-Chair of the International Political Science Association's
Research Committee on Public Policy and Administration, and is a leading author on policy, with his work
having been translated into several languages.
www.allenandunwin.com/p&r
Contents
1. Mapping the work of policy
Part One: Organisational Complexity and Policy Work
2. Non-government organisations in policy
3. Bringing in the community sector: Partnerships and advocacy
4. Parliamentary committees as an arena for policy work
5. Creating a focus for policy: The evolution of the Murray-Darling Basin
Part Two: The Widening Policy Arena: Public Participation in Policy
6. Engaging citizens to solve major public policy challenges
7. Participatory policy-making for sustainability
Part Three: The New Gatekeepers
8. Ministerial staff: New players in the policy game
9. From control to networks
Part Four: Discourse, Context and Conflict in Policy
10. Informing policy through integrated information
11. Policy research and organisational demands
12. ‘Busy little workers': Policy workers’ own accounts
13. Aligning ‘good policy’ with ‘good politics’
Notes
References
Index
H.K. Colebatch
Sue Keen
Linda Hancock
Ian Holland
Daniel Connell and H.K. Colebatch
Richard Curtain
Kate Crowley
Geoff Anderson
Martin Stewart-Weeks
Fiona McKenzie
Richard Denniss
Zoe Gill and H.K. Colebatch
Scott Prasser
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